Page:Picturesque Nepal.djvu/236

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146
THE ARTS OF THE NEWARS

found in great exuberance all over the Valley. These buildings may be regarded as more essentially characteristic of Nepal than the foregoing, and not only in composition and construction, but also in detail, show their decided far-eastern origin. The richest and most remarkable example of a Nepalese pagoda is without doubt the temple of Changu-Narain, while the most dignified and monumental is the Nyatpola Deval or "Temple of Five stories." It is interesting to note that the latter has its almost exact counterpart in the Pagoda of Horinje in Japan, constructed at least ten centuries earlier than the Bhatgaon building, but both edifices are obviously based on the same architectonic principles originally derived from China. Almost every street and square in the Valley produces one or more of these quaint edifices, and some of the smaller pagodas are complete specimens on a miniature scale of this fanciful style of Nepalese architecture. It has already been indicated that the pagoda does not pretend to rival in antiquity the Chaitya, as none of these buildings date earlier than the